How do you quantify the impact of a band such as Neurosis?
A band that have influenced an entire sub-genre of music, whilst simultaneously seeking to redefine and refine their sound with each and every release, Neurosis are scene leaders in a way that few bands (and even fewer modern bands) can ever hope to be and even attempting to assess their artistic influence upon the world of metal is a mind boggling task. So many of the bands that have released stunning albums in recent years; bands such as Baroness, Isis, Red Sparrowes, A Storm Of Light, mastodon and so many others; they all owe a significant debt to the punishing, oblique world of Neurosis, and now it is time for the band to return to their hunting ground with ‘Honor found in decay’, their first release since 2007’s ‘given to the rising’.
Unsurprisingly ‘Honor found in decay’ is a far from easy listen. Indeed, it takes several listens to peel away the layers that protect the rotten, virulent core of the songs, and whilst there are visceral thrills to be found here (most notably on the unutterably brutal ‘bleeding the pigs’), Neurosis have delivered upon their lofty claim that this would be their most dynamic album yet and ‘Honor found in decay’ proves to be a mesmerizingly powerful body of music littered with references to folk, post rock and sludge metal as the band traverse the wide pastures of their many influences.
Featuring typically stunning artwork (at present only the CD and Special Edition gatefold CD are available, with the LP to come later), the visual identity of the album – all burned out sepia and rich gold – is an apt metaphor for the contents which ranges across the opening tracks from seething brutality to resigned beauty, the elegance of the latter proving to be particularly effective as a stark counterpoint to the strident fury of the former. Thus ‘we all rage in gold’ sets the tone of the album with its grinding guitars and pained vocals, but it is on the epic, multi-faceted ‘at the well’ that the true spirit of Neurosis is unleashed, tearing, spitting and screaming one minute, crouching, haunted in the corner the next, for a punishing, breath-taking ten minutes of tense noise and controlled fury. ‘My heart for deliverance’ takes a full two minutes to tear itself from the pulsing colours of a TV set tuned to static before finally breaking the spell, the guitar riffs toppling over one another as Jason Roeder’s drums provide the tribal heart that beats at the centre of these compositions. It’s dry as a bone, bleached white in the blazing sunlight and stripped of any hint of humanity, yet it sounds strangely beautiful as the riffs multiply and gain potency and, as the song wends its way through its twelve minute run time, the listener will find themselves enraptured by the dark strands of melody the band weave.
The next track finds us lost in impenetrable darkness as the band channel Tom Waites, The Swans and William Burroughs for the wretched trawl that is ‘bleeding the pigs’. As intense as khanate but with an intrinsic melody, as the song progresses so it edges towards the light which hovers, smeary and blurred and always out of reach, only for a startlingly huge riff to tear you, screaming, back into the dark form whence you came as the tribal drums reach new heights of hysteria and the guitars spit sulphur and flame above you. ‘Casting of the ages’, in comparison, sees the riffs swell and flow like water, matching and echoing the stunning power of ‘the tide’ from the band’s amazing ‘the sun that never sets’ album, the music as elegant, as emotive and as tidal as the blackest sea.
‘All is found… in time’ opens in a maelstrom of noise and fury only for the track to veer wildly between the brittle folk of Harvestman and the blistering power of Amebix, the guitars a dense roar that abates at the conclusion for the song to sway unsteadily into a psychedelic realm that sits somewhere between A Clockwork Orange and 2001 in its sense of mystery and illusion before finally tearing into the climactic unravelling of the spirit, the guitars and drums approaching an apogee of rage before dissolving altogether and leaving the listener in the disturbing company of the atmospheric ‘raise the dawn’, a song that perfectly concludes the album on a graceful note, the raging guitars finally winding down as a lone violin plays the song to its conclusion.
How does one quantify Neurosis? Is there any album score that can make sense of the wonders this album has to offer? It’s been a week now and I feel far from confident, even now, in writing this review, aware as I am that next week I may well pick out entirely different aspects for specific praise and mention. This is the dichotomy that lies at the heart of attempting to put the appeal of Neurosis into words. The band operate on a near spiritual level, their music and lyrics meaning so much subjectively to their many loyal fans, that my interpretation is only one small part of the appeal that the band have. To call it an excellent album seems both a disservice and an understatement. To call it a ‘grower’, whilst true, is similarly ineffective. It may well be that we have to wait five more years till the next album, and if that’s the case it is likely that upon convening judgement on that album, understanding of this one will be greater.
Few bands have the power to craft music as thrilling, as imaginative, as ugly and as life-changing as Neurosis and ‘honor found in decay’ is an enthralling entry into a back catalogue that has done more to change the course of underground music than almost any other. Here is beauty, here is truth and here is pain – Neurosis understand that these things belong together as disparate as they may seem – and this stunning work, even as it is only starting to unravel, offers greater rewards than any one sitting can possibly reveal.
